"One repercussion of constantly relying on feminizing signifiers for character design is that it tends to reinforce a strict binary form of gender expression. The gender binary is an entirely artificial and socially constructed division of male and female into two distinctly separate and opposing classes of human being."
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that gender binary is a result of physical biology. While we may cognitively cater to people's gender expressions and socially treat it as a continuum instead of an either/or, it is exceedingly obvious that gender continuum is the artificial, social construct, while binary is the simple physical state. This does not devalue the gender continuum we use as adults today, in the least - on the contrary - artificial social constructs are a feature of civilization.
Of course its biological. Any educated person realizes that. We are a sexually dimorphic species (physically / mentally / emotionally / behaviourally).
It would be tantamount to saying that gender in gorillas (another sexually dimorphic species, and closely related to us) is a social / cultural / policital / historical construct.
She did not explain why having a male default is a bad thing.
isn't that obvious?
It really isnt obvious. So a male default is bad, but a female default would be good?
Remember: you are selling a product intended for a target audience, a market composed of mostly male children (as far as 80s videogames goes). Targeting the product to a female audience might result in less sales / loss of profit / bankrupcy.
She's not asking for destruction of guy centered games, she's asking for balance. Just to prove the point list 20 games specifically aimed at women.
Lets do this: ill post 20 games made 100% by males, specifically aimed at males, and you post 20 games 100% made by females, specifically aimed at females.
Or are you somehow suggesting males creating things targeted to their own gender must be forcefully pressured into modifying their creation to also cater to the other gender?
still, keep in mind that the m:f proportion of game developers is much steeper than the proportion of m:f players. i have heard that only 13% of people in the game industry are women, whereas around 40% of people who use hardcore videogame consoles like the xbox and ps3 are female. so it isn't really representative
40% of hardcore gamers are female? WOW. Thats a bold statement. Colour me shocked. Back it up somehow with data if you can.
Is 40% of this very forum female? If not, why? Because we, males, have created an abrasive and toxic atmosphere of misogyny, or because females simply arent interested.
(hint: probably the second option)
Also, if she does a sequel to this one she really needs to look at Borderlands 2. The developers of that game have made conscious attempts to include characters who don't conform to stereotypes for gender, race and sexual preference, and in my mind they've been successful (For an example, look at Ellie the Mechanic or Sir Hammerlock, who is gay).
I played the first one, but not Borderlands 2. Are 50% of the characters you kill in the game (enemies) female? Or are they mostly male, as usual? No one cares about that, right?
(only males dying) < (bow on ms pacman)
It's not actually a problem for a white male dominated industry to produce games for a white male dominated demographic. I'm not sure why anyone assumes that it is. Anita assumes that if you made more games with strong female characters the female marketplace would rise up, but that's still an assumption. It's an even more suspect assumption when Anita herself seems to have very little interest in videogames.
That's why some people get really upset - here's an outsider trying to change a free industry that produces the products the marketplace wants to consume, while portraying people who are perfectly content as villains. And for what? To make games that Anita wouldn't play anyway? For that matter, if there's a market here that's untapped, why aren't studios trying to access it?
Great observations.
also, you played immortal defense, if i recall -- which is a sci-fi game and also has a mostly male audience (although some of its biggest fans are female, too). did you feel i did anything in that game that made the game feel specifically for guys?
Well, female gamers tend to like certain types of casual games apparently. So, if you wanted to cater to female audiences, you should turn your tower defense game into a match 3 game / farmville hybrid. Also, change the theme from sci-fi into a sims-like setting, with plenty of female characters.
Would you do that? Betray your original creative vision to please feminist ideals (turning your male space into a "female friendly zone")? What if you were accused of discrimination / opression / misogyny if you opposed? Would you bend the knee then?
Notice this isn't a discussion solely happening in games, this is pretty similar to the polygon article:
Yes, feminists have been going bonkers invading every perceived male space / ideologically relevant venue, and carpet bombing with propaganda.
What happened with the main online community of atheists should be a cautionary tale of what could end up happening with videogames / game dev, a community purposefully fragmented over fabricated political correctness issues.
What? What?
WHAT?
You are surprise? how so? you have been in another thread where I laid down all the study and evidence (and it demonstrate that
on average female lead society are more stable that male one, so it make financial sense to back them, except it's not what happen), her interactive is one of the example of this happening, many studio in the early casual and social game needed to have a male "caution" to leverage investor. Go back and seek the link, I Don't have a personal computer anymore to spend time on this.
Oh and girl don't want to organize themselves against male gamer, they just want to feel welcome and not harassed and gross out. Im at a loss for words.
regarding the 'whining doesn't solve anything' subtopic, i actually think that's incorrect. whining solves a lot of things. what do babies do when they need food and can't get it? they whine, and their parent brings them it. the civil rights movement of the 60s in the US and the movement for indian independence where gandhi starved himself until he got what he wanted can both be considered forms of whining that obtained their objectives.
Are you somehow comparing anita sarkeesian to Ghandi, or feminists complaining about videogames to the civil rights movement of the 60s? Im now convinced what you are doing in your avatar picture is drinking absinthe out of a beer mug.
oh please watch your tone, don't scare the men away!!! ugh we lost a lot of good men to the sarkeesian wars. how do we get more men in the game industry??? you know male lurkers are going to be turned off when reading this thread!!! they won't see your viewpoint because of your tone, and because males are fickle and incapable of rational thought, they will become sexists! the last thing we want to do is silence men in an argument about women in games! the most important thing is to convince men in the argument because men are the most important!
oh, female lurkers might be turned off reading this forum? it's a boys club, either they adapt or they fuck off! darwinism, bro! why should we censor what we say for them? it's special treatment!
how the conversation is controlled over and over and over again
How are you not banned? What has Tigsource become?¿
As far as Anita goes, i kind of feel sorry for her. I dont think she is a hardcore gamer at all. She seems to be nitpicking "evidence" to fit her agenda of portraying women as excluded / oppressed / "objectified" by ill-intentioned / insensitive game developers, part of "the boys club" / patriarchy.
Wasnt Derek Yu himself criticised for making the hero of the original Spelunky a male, and the damsel some blonde chick in distress (who rewards the hero with a kiss). In fact he was, as ridiculous as it may sound.
By feminist reasoning Tigsource would be a "boys club", given the founders / most of the members / most (or all) of the moderators are male. And conclude that it is because indie games are somehow hostile to women, and that the commmunity of gamers and developers is toxic and hostile and excludes them. Thats not the case.
I find their complaints vapid and scripted as usual. Make your own games with your own tropes, create your own community of game devs / gamers, do your own thing, no one will piss on it.
Im so tired of this "patriarchy theory" inspired nonsense popping up everywhere.
These arent current, but are relevant and cogent videos about anita:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_O1R7Zq9EIGod you are such a worthless cunt.
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